Carolina State Symbols: Tar Heels, Palmettos -- and Seminarians
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ-y9D-wrGawzUEe3LzBTVzCk_MuLmnNTM7eVGyM1pQjWIcFNOsC1O_BwK_vLQqKjHeBNXAtIJFW9tfQ0nC2GjNP74p9QFSzWxL-233GP3Cwj-2YJpW6-ggDP56LiMz6Xb3AH5/s400/scord.jpg)
Due to the large number of candidates, the ordination Mass is being held in a convention center in the state capital of Columbia. In May, the historic local church (founded in 1820) welcomed 22 new permanent deacons; since 1990, its Catholic presence has more than doubled, now comprising 4% of the general population.
Just up I-95 in the diocese of Raleigh, eight "new men" are entering formation this fall, bringing its total number of seminarians to 21. The result of Bishop Michael Burbidge's full-court press for a heightened awareness of priestly vocations in the burgeoning diocese, in a stroke of pure coincidence, come September the Raleigh recruits will find themselves at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where the bishop served as rector from 1999-2004.
The chair-elect of the USCCB's Committee on Vocations, Burbidge marks his first anniversary in North Carolina next weekend, and one of the incoming class was profiled in the local News & Observer last weekend.
Clearly, the ref's jersey (with coat of arms patch) paid off.
PHOTO: Joe Benton/The New Catholic Miscellany
-30-
<< Home